So there’s this thing, with these old people. They’re really cool old people, but when half my conversations with them end up being about either their kid who’s my age or how they’re looking forward to retirement (or backwards on it), one can safely conclude that these people are old.

Yes, those words will be thrown back at me eventually, but I’ve got a good couple decades to wait before that’s an issue.

This thing, though, the thing is the thing. I’m not sure what to call it. It’s just a two-day get-together of people who enjoy folk music. Which happens to include people who are old and people who are me. Next one’s in a month.

I’ve signed up for a timeslot during one of the concerts, which means I’ll be performing probably two songs. I’ve known which two songs I’ve wanted to do for a really long time, but one of them I never got around to learning to play, and the other one I only recently got around to writing. And for reasons that include my bringing what I may to the godly wisdom of a court and orphans that are wandering from house to house, I hadn’t even picked up a guitar for all of December and most of January.

So I was kind of nervous. Will I be able to learn this song in a month? Will I be comfortable enough with the other one that I’m willing to show it to people? I don’t really have a backup plan… I really want to do these songs.

So I go look up the chords for that first one, and I stumble. Some of the chords I’m not familiar with. Some of the transitions are odd. The progression isn’t standard. Will I get this down in a month?

So after about fifteen minutes of going over this song, I go look up the chords to one of the songs I did last time because I realize I don’t remember how it starts. And the same problems hit me. It’s almost like I never knew the song in the first place.

But I did. And I performed it.

So instead of discouraging me even further, the stumbling makes me realize that this is just a bump in getting back into the habit of playing: it’s not that the song is beyond my abilities, and I’ll definitely have it in a month. I just need to find some time to sit down with my guitar on a regular basis.

And pieces are starting to fall back into place. Hey look, that piece over there is falling into a concrete slab. Huh, I didn’t think that was its place…

2 Responses to Re-learning Guitar

I completely understand. I’ve been having a similar problem with piano-playing, since I hadn’t played in a few months, due to not really having access to one at BIU. I’m glas to hear that you’ve got confidence in your abilities, though. Could you lend me some?